The FA Cup is still romantic
The romance of the FA Cup returned this weekend, as Yeovil, Oldham and Sheffield United (amongst others) defeated higher-division opponents. Yeading couldn’t do the same against Newcastle (and, thankfully, neither could Northampton beat Southampton — phew!), but acquitted themselves reasonably well against the Geordie Millionaires.
I watched the Yeading game and, while they did brilliantly to only lose 2-0, I felt that they tried to be too ambitious too often: trying to play the ball out of defence; attempting to pass through (literally) opposing players; playing backwards into danger; giving the ball away etc etc. Still — the players were nearly dead on their feet by the end, so all credit to them. Let’s hope they can go on and turn their nine-point advantage at the top of the Ryman Premier League into promotion, come May.
All we need now is a sympathetic 4th-round draw. We’ll know at 1.30pm…